The Tale of Triumph and Tragedy
by stakeh
Summary: There were three faults to Sasuke's life goal. The third and final, however, would be the catalyst to his triumph in tragedy. Violence, slight language, and character death.


**The Tale of Triumph and Tragedy**

It came as no surprise to anyone that the day Sasuke set out to finally achieve his life's goal, his weapon holsters packed and bandage wrapped tightly around both of his fists, was the same day that he'd first decided it. While the date fit, the weather did not, and instead of dismal rain showers or even apathetic clouds blocking the sunshine, the sun blazed cheerfully in the sky. It was actually rather stifling, causing thick beads of sweat to gather along the Uchiha avenger's nape, and in irritation he kept wiping it away, only to have the sweat gather right back.

But that was hardly on his determined mind at the moment, and alone he traveled, each step more of an adrenaline rush than the last.

Sasuke's reasons for being unaccompanied were obvious: his taste of revenge would be his own to claim, and he wasn't about to let anyone else help him on his chosen path to victory. However, there were several reasons as to why this decision may not have been the best of ideas, the first being that the silence of his journey was becoming somewhat unbearable.

While the Uchiha generally welcomed such absence of sound, with the rushing of blood fueling his driven body and state of mind, shared company wouldn't have been too bad. Though maybe the lack of it was instead a good thing; what would he have talked about? The various thoughts he conceived on which the best way to carve out his older brother and eternal tormentor's heart? Certainly not the pleasantest of subjects.

So he treaded on in the absence of another, with only the occasional rustle of tree leaves to substitute.

As for the second reason his lone journey wasn't too smart of an idea – what was he going to do if he became gravely injured in his battle? There wasn't any way he could report back to anyone or ask for help (not that he particularly planned or preferred this to happen; on the contrary, it was only a last resort), nor any comrade to assist him were he to be critically wounded. And that was certainly a loss; wasn't that why the system of assigned missions generally were allotted to teams of shinobi? It was considered suicide to set out on such an undertaking as the defeat of the renowned Uchiha Itachi, at least to most, if not all.

Well, all but Uchiha Sasuke, who was blinded by his hatred to sometimes even think clearly.

One Hatake Kakashi, while safely back within the walls of Konohagakure, probably reading his favorite literary material, knew each and every fault to his former student's plan in quite an amount of detail. But it wasn't Kakashi's right to make a decision for the young shinobi, and so he let the boy go. It was Uzumaki Naruto who had proved to be the most trouble, but after several bruises and a couple of bleeding impairments later, even the blonde couldn't do anything to stop Sasuke.

After finally winning over the second Uchiha-born betrayer of Konoha, Naruto was unable to force him to stay put, and therefore as a result only lost him again. And this time, unlike before, Naruto was convinced that his 'rival' wouldn't make it back to tell the tale of triumph.

Whether or not the sole survivor of his family's massacre believed this himself or not, no one could honestly tell.

And so it was.

How Sasuke managed to track down his brother was another mystery in itself, but all that really counted was the fact that when the two faced off at last, there would be no bystanders to witness the gruesome, if somewhat tragic affair.

Well, not counting a certain Hoshigaki Kisame, partner of Uchiha Itachi and missing-nin from the oftentimes ambiguous Village of Mist. While seemingly just the criminal comrade and onlooker to one of the most feared ex-shinobi of the Leaf, Kisame was no push-over himself. Unfortunately, little about this man was known to Sasuke himself, and almost automatically he was gone from the young avenger's mind.

All that mattered now was Itachi. Itachi, Itachi, Itachi, and the bloodshed of said brother that was to come.

This was the third and final basis in Sasuke's own error, but Kisame was told bluntly by his impassive partner to stand aside and not to interfere in the fight. He of course did so with little complaint; after all, this was not within his business to question or otherwise hinder.

And so it began.

At first the battle started with only a few cross words and the exchange was brief, but Itachi realized when the first kunai flew and struck dead-center, fused full of a maddening amount of chakra, that his baby brother was finally of age. And was finally an adversary worth facing.

Kisame seemed to come to the same understanding only moments later, when the younger Uchiha swung a fist and connected with Itachi's side. But it was only the beginning, and still managing to conquer Sasuke when it came to the mastery of his skills at such an early age, Itachi quickly returned the blow.

And so it went.

The momentary fist-fight escalated into crude a blade-against-blade clash, though neither minded the brutal transition.

A long while later, blood coated the scene, smearing itself into the landscape and dirt-packed ground pretty much every time a strike was met. After a while, Kisame lost track of who actually had the upper hand, simply due to the excessive amount of it all, and even for a highly tolerant man brought up with far too early knowledge on the ways of killing, it made him just a bit nauseas.

It wasn't until, in a flare of black and red, that Itachi at last went down that Kisame's hands fisted tightly and he dodged forward into the fray. Hell, he didn't care much for keeping his promise not to interfere any longer, not if it meant saving his damned partner's life. It was easy to pinpoint the two upon the soiled field, as this wasn't exactly too shadowed or otherwise of a battleground for either to go much unnoticed, and when he arrived, it was already obvious to tell which one had become the victor.

Uchiha Sasuke stood half-slouched, half-upright in his spot beside his brother's unmoving form (or corpse, the Kirigakure missing-nin thought bitterly, hollowly to himself), heaving deep gasps of air and bleeding profusely from various wounds scattering his body. His eyes were unseeing of the taller, suddenly viciously angry man, and he simply stared, long and hard, at the bloodied face of his now-dead tormentor.

It wasn't until a swift rush of wind was heard that Sasuke's head whipped in the direction of the shark-nin, but by then it was too late, and by the time Samehada met with the side of the young avenger's body, all was lost to him.

And so it became.

Kisame hacked and hacked, and the blood became so great that even he felt he was drowning in it, felt it clouding his senses. Part of his mind told him that enough was enough, that Sasuke was probably long-defeated by now, and after one last harsh swing, Samehada fell slack in his grip.

He didn't survey the damage. He didn't do anything, didn't pull Itachi's maimed figure from the mess of blood and torn flesh. That was Zetsu's job, not his.

Hoshigaki Kisame didn't touch either the Uchiha prodigy or the Uchiha avenger, because that wasn't his legacy. He'd already gone too far as to turn a triumph into a tragedy, but hey, that was the way of life, wasn't it? Partner-less and exhausted to an extent that seemed almost unnatural for the former Mist nin, Kisame turned and soon left. In some part of his mind, he wondered if this was how Deidara felt when he'd found out that Sasori had died. Like he'd lost a part of himself, as well.

And as Naruto predicted, Uchiha Sasuke never made it back to tell the tale of triumph, never even made it back to tell the one that had in its place turned into a tragedy. But that was the way of life, and the way of the Uchiha legacy.

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